A review in Music Teacher Magazine has, I fear, not fully done justice to the books. I have written in response to the magazine, but feel I must respond more fully here to correct what I regard as a number of misrepresentations. The reviewer begins:
On opening the first book, the reader is greeted with a lengthy introduction outlining the book’s intentions and is given a list of abbreviations and terms. After another five pages of information regarding key signatures and how scales are built (tones and semitones) we reach the first lesson.
I think this might bore the average Grade 1 student: Copas’s explanations and suggestions are well-meaning but serve to over-complicate matters, making the task of learning three scales (Grade 1’s requirements of F major, G major and A minor) quite daunting.
The introduction consists of three short paragraphs addressed to the student, followed by a page and a half addressed to the teacher, to whom it is made clear that the student will need careful guidance in lessons throughout the book to ensure that everything is understood. The section entitled How Key Signatures Work is the exact method I use in my own teaching and includes practical exercises and activities to build understanding. It deals not so much with tones and semitones as the circle of fifths, demonstrating that there is a clear logic to the system of keys. This section is also suitable to be delivered to a group or class rather than in the one-to-one context, should that be more convenient. Such theory work is essential as an adjunct to practical learning and my beginner students are able to grasp it at an early stage if it is properly explained.
The fear of boredom is, I believe, somewhat overstated: children work far harder these days than when I was young, and they are very ready to undertake lengthy and repetitive tasks if they have a clear objective and understand how it is to be achieved.
The first lesson itself, however, is a pleasant change, with clear fingering diagrams and the scale of F major written out. On the other hand, a boxed text paragraph explaining that the clarinet is a transposing instrument, with examples of what this means, is probably not necessary information at this stage.
As you will see from the sample pages on this website, there are boxed sections throughout the books containing detailed and often very technical information which is complementary rather than essential to the work in hand. Whilst of interest to the curious, these can be glossed over or ignored if a more single-minded approach is required or if the student is too young to be able to engage with such material. Perhaps I should have made this clearer in my already lengthy introduction, but I felt it to be self-evident.
The first exercise is written in quavers and looks very hard for a typical Grade 1 student. It is six lines long and (although it would of course be broken down) looks like a challenging piece – much harder than any Grade 1 piece.
The exercise is, indeed, as described and is challenging in that it addresses the coordinations required for the G major scale. Actually, the G major arpeggio exercises on page 16 are rather harder. Grade examiners are not just looking for the right notes, but want to hear scales played well and confidently. More to the point, scale work serves to develop general technique and the exercises are presented to assist this. I am puzzled by the reference to quavers: from my experience, there seem to be plenty of quavers in Grade 1 music. My Grade 1 level students cope perfectly well with this material – generally within the first term of learning.
In fairness, I should include the paragraph in which the reviewer is more complimentary:
A nice touch is the idea of a practice plan that has tick boxes and clear instructions on what to play. In Lesson 3, minor scales are introduced and the difference between major and minor scales is demonstrated with the help of a novel illustration depicting a military “major” standing on the ground with a “miner” tunnelling beneath. The misspelling is alluded to and the reason I include it is that it is very good: just the sort of thing that a book of this nature should be crammed with.
Actually, the practice plans are the bits students like least: they look daunting and extremely time consuming. However, most of the items on each daily list of scales should be very familiar and should take a matter of moments to drill. Only the first few items on each list involve repetition of new material.
Overall, however, I believe that the books include too much unnecessary information for a young student to deal with.
Who said anything about young? The correct age to begin learning orchestral wind instruments is subject for another debate which I am keen to get into, but will cover elsewhere in this blog. However, my secondary school beginners are generally quick to overtake their peers who have had two or three years of tuition at junior school; there are many and complex reasons for this. As to the unnecessary information, see my note above about boxed text.
Written exercises in the Grade 4-5 book use semiquavers and resemble exercises found in Paul Jeanjean’s Vade Mecum.
The reference to Paul Jeanjean’s Vade Mecum I take as a compliment: this excellent book was my constant companion throughout my student years and enabled me to perform some of the most demanding works in the repertoire. The essential principle of learning through repetitive, rhythmic exercise is sound, but Jeanjean is far too demanding for students at graded exam level. My offerings are carefully constructed to suit the relevant level; there are no tempo markings and the use of quaver or semiquaver note values should not be taken to imply rapid movement, especially when the exercises are attempted for the first time. I would be even happier if the reviewer had said that the exercises in all three books resemble Jeanjean’s.
From this point the reviewer reverts to talking more about himself than about my books:
Additionally, there are many fundamental choices that Copas makes in fingering which I disagree with, and his explanations sometimes leave me with an arched eyebrow to say the least. His dismissal of the LH Eb key (which more expensive clarinets are fitted with) seems to imply that players who use it are somehow lacking. The instruction to use a side-key fingered Eb (as opposed to a front Eb) for a chromatic is wrong. Using the front fingering keeps the hand movement minimal and is helpful when playing a chromatic at speed. Also the suggestion that a side-key F# should be used is misleading. It can be used, but again, at speed it’s easier to swap from a thumb F to first-finger F#.
From the reviewer’s somewhat indignant defence of the LH Eb key I surmise that he has this additional key on his own instruments. It certainly does, in many passages, obviate the need for tricky fifth finger slides, but he must be aware that many players of the highest calibre choose to go without it, with no apparent impairment to their playing. Almost no students preparing for graded exams have it so there is no place for it in these books. I have no doubt that he can execute rapid chromatic scales faultlessly with the front Eb key, but many other competent players, including myself, have equally sound reasons for using the side key. Neither party is wrong, but this is not about him or, indeed, about me. The books aim to present fingering patterns which can be used consistently throughout the study of scales and arpeggios. I have found that students who try to include the front key in their technique all too frequently try to use it in places where it simply will not work. With regard to the alternative F#, I can swap fingers neatly just as he can, but many students struggle to execute this smoothly with the result that an unwanted note creeps in between F and F#.
Finally, the killer blow:
By contrast, absent throughout are any tips for embouchure or diaphragm support, which would be especially useful when approaching high notes for the first time.
With regard to the lack of tips about embouchure or diaphragm support, these issues simply do not fall within the remit of the books. Clarinet technique is complex, bringing together very precise control of fingers, embouchure and breathing. It is made clear in the introduction to each book that this is not a complete method for learning and should be used alongside other teaching material. All woodwind instruments involve mechanisms made up of the conjunction of the human hands, with all their articulations, and keywork. The books are instruction manuals to deal specifically with these complex mechanisms. The reference to “diaphragm support”, which is an expression used all too often by wind and singing teachers is physiological nonsense. The truth about the diaphragm is revealed in another post in this blog.
I feel my books have also been misrepresented by omission. The change of emphasis in Book 3 towards learning through aural awareness and introducing a more empirical approach has been ignored, despite the fact that, at 151 pages, this constitutes almost 50% of the total series. I have no doubt the reviewer was facing a tight copy deadline and a complex narrative of 313 pages is an awful lot to plough through, but such a casual dismissal does no justice to the cause he and I should both be serving.
